Early voters arrive to cast ballots in Luhansk in self-rule poll

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)

STORY: Residents of Luhansk started to arrive early at polling stations across the city on Sunday (May 11) to cast their vote in a referendum on self-rule that has raised fears in Kiev and the West of civil war and dismemberment.

Polling stations will stay open from 0500GMT till 1700GMT.

Heads of polling station in Luhansk say that once the polling stations are closed the sealed ballot boxes will be sent to the central election commission.

Since there were no budget allocations for the referendum the organisers had to rely mostly on voluntary work.

The results are expected to be announced in three days.

Ukrainian leader Oleksander Turchinov told pro-Russian eastern regions on Saturday that if they move to secession it would be taking a step into the abyss. He said such a move would destroy the economy of the region that produces 16 percent of Ukraine's GDP.

Kiev and the West accuse Moscow of engineering the cri